Galectin-4 is a member of multifunctional galactoside-binding lectin family with various biological functions, including tumor cells proliferation, cancer progression, cell adhesion, and tumor metastasis. In this study, we aimed to investigate the putative function of galectin-4 in tumor progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and explore the possible mechanisms of galectin-4 related biological pathway. The result showed that the galectin-4 was significantly up-regulated in HCC tissues/cell lines compared to matched peritumor tissues/a normal liver cell line, respectively. Furthermore, overexpressing galectin-4 in HCCLM3 cells led to promotion of cell proliferation and inhibition of cell apoptosis via up-regulation of Cyclin D1, down-regulation of p21 and decreased pro-apoptotic Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, But knockdown of galectin-4 reversed these properties. Furthermore, galectin-4 could promote cell-cell adhesion via stabilizing the adherens junction complexes. These observations was further validated in the xenograft animal model. Taken together, galectin-4 plays an important role in HCC progression.
Keywords: Galectin-4; cell adhesion; cell apoptosis; cell proliferation; hepatocellular carcinoma.
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